WEC 46: Ben Henderson Chokes Jamie Varner For Undisputed Championship

“Smooth” Ben Henderson (10-1) choked “The Worm” Jamie Varner (16-4) in a standing guillotine choke compelling Varner to tapout at 2:41 of round three and winning the WEC lightweight title at WEC 46 in Sacramento Sunday night.

Henderson had held an interim title since defeating “Cowboy” Donald Cerrone (10-3) at WEC 43 in San Antonio October 10.

Varner had controlled the first two rounds with aggressive stand-up and stated after the fight, “I came to fight.  Ben was the better man. He caught me in a guillotine. He’s a studly dude. I wanted to box…he wanted to kick.  Shit happens. I was winning that fight. All he was doing was throwing were body kicks. I had the takedowns, I had the control.  He didn’t want to box. I came to fight, Ben came to grapple. Two different things.”

But, as Varner shot in round three, he ate a big Henderson knee.  As Varner stumbled from the knee, Henderson wrapped the guillotine choke around Varner’s neck and squeezed until Varner tapped out.

Henderson will likely rematch Cerrone for his first title defense.